EGYPT: Girls forced to sleep rough in Cairo (video)

Source:IRIN/Youtube

Article: EGYPT: Girls forced to sleep rough in Cairo (video)

*The following are excerpts from the aforementioned article:
There are an estimated half a million street children in Egypt. Many of them are in precarious situation and face violence on the streets. This video short looks at the lives of 10-year-old Sayyida, who’s been living rough in Cairo for at least two years, and single mother Fatma. While they can go to a drop-in centre to get food in the daytime, they face an array of hazards at night in an increasingly hostile environment on the streets.

This video short highlights the dangers faced by people living on Cairo’s streets in a country of some 80 million people bursting at the seams.

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Child labour in Yemen

Source: IRIN FILMS/ Youtube

Yemen's Al Mehwar slum

Source: IRINFILMS/Youtube

Sudanese struggle in the streets of Cairo

Source: Sudanese struggle in the streets of Cairo

Uncomfortable Truths...

By: Nasir Al-Amin

At 8 pm a woman in Ethiopia will prepare her daughter for bed, as she prepares herself for work. Although she works more than a 7 hour shift, on average 10 hours a night, she will only earn around $2.50-$3.50 a night. Beyond preparing herself outwardly, she prepares herself mentally for what the night might bring: physical and sexual assault (slapped, punched, and forced to perform sexual acts), mental abuse, theft, ridicule (from authorities and street gangs) as well as the pain and fear of leaving her daughter alone at home.

Everyday in Ethiopia, thousands of young girls and women (some as young as 15) are in the throes of commercial sex work. Poverty has exploited their orphanhood and/or destitute state. This is an uncomfortable truth, but it is their truth, and thus our truth!

"I believed the lies of a trafficker"

Source: BBC, Addis Ababa

By: Mohammed Adow

Article: Ethiopian tells of migrant ordeal

*The following are excerpts from the aforementioned article: 

An Ethiopian woman has gone public with her harrowing story about being trafficked to work in Bahrain, hoping this will serve as a warning to others. "I believed the lies of a trafficker and a family friend whom I thought I could trust," says Alem Teklu, 29.

"I ended up being abused, exploited, and held against my will. "My employer refused to pay my salary of more than six months and wanted me to forcefully marry her brother." Ethiopia has for a long time been a source of men, women, and children trafficked for forced labour and sexual exploitation. Every year thousands of young Ethiopians are trafficked for involuntary domestic labour to the Middle East, particularly Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia. "Sexual harassment by male members of the family I worked for were a commonplace.  They can endure severe hardship and even death on their arduous journeys to the Middle East. Many believe that trafficking is being fuelled by the abject poverty facing many Ethiopians.

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*Note the abovementioned excerpts are direct quotes from the article and thus all credit and references should be afforded to the authors/sources.